I wrote this before the President asked Congress for permission to begin a three-year military campaign against the IS, but as a result it is all the more relevant. Peace is impractical. Peace is impossible. That’s what it seems like the disillusioned idealists are saying. One of the members of our panel on the Iraq aftermath hosted by the Circle of Peacemakers last Saturday noted that the Kurdistani population of Iraq welcomed Barack Obama’s airstrikes targeted at the Islamic State because the U.S. was targeting their oppressors. The old adage goes, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” For me, it is a familiar argument. In my upbringing the typical American patriotism that fuels the military industrial complex was not why my parents were so supportive of the war on terror. It was because, in their minds, the war on terror was targeting people in the Middle East that have persecuted them while they were still living in Egypt. When the terrible events of 9/11 happened and it became apparent that radical terrorists were behind the attack, my parents welcomed the opportunity for a president to be “tough on terror.” Peace does not seem possible when your freedom to exercise your faith is threatened. Peace does not seem practical when your “nation” is stolen from you by the decolonization of your region and you’re hopelessly oppressed by warring political parties (as is the case with the Kurds). What do we do with the case of radical, violent terrorists? How do we handle the violence of the Islamic State? How do we have a conflict with a violent person? These are the same kinds of questions that came up when I was speaking about the collective national anger at Koinos Community Church. One new couple’s question was, “What about World War 2? What about Pearl Harbor? The Nazis? What would you do then? Isn’t violence justifiable at that point? Thomas Aquinas came up with the Just War Theory that attempts to discern when a Chrisitan should wage war and how he or she should act in said war. According to Wikipedia,
The impracticality of peace and why I love it
The impracticality of peace and why I love it
The impracticality of peace and why I love it
I wrote this before the President asked Congress for permission to begin a three-year military campaign against the IS, but as a result it is all the more relevant. Peace is impractical. Peace is impossible. That’s what it seems like the disillusioned idealists are saying. One of the members of our panel on the Iraq aftermath hosted by the Circle of Peacemakers last Saturday noted that the Kurdistani population of Iraq welcomed Barack Obama’s airstrikes targeted at the Islamic State because the U.S. was targeting their oppressors. The old adage goes, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” For me, it is a familiar argument. In my upbringing the typical American patriotism that fuels the military industrial complex was not why my parents were so supportive of the war on terror. It was because, in their minds, the war on terror was targeting people in the Middle East that have persecuted them while they were still living in Egypt. When the terrible events of 9/11 happened and it became apparent that radical terrorists were behind the attack, my parents welcomed the opportunity for a president to be “tough on terror.” Peace does not seem possible when your freedom to exercise your faith is threatened. Peace does not seem practical when your “nation” is stolen from you by the decolonization of your region and you’re hopelessly oppressed by warring political parties (as is the case with the Kurds). What do we do with the case of radical, violent terrorists? How do we handle the violence of the Islamic State? How do we have a conflict with a violent person? These are the same kinds of questions that came up when I was speaking about the collective national anger at Koinos Community Church. One new couple’s question was, “What about World War 2? What about Pearl Harbor? The Nazis? What would you do then? Isn’t violence justifiable at that point? Thomas Aquinas came up with the Just War Theory that attempts to discern when a Chrisitan should wage war and how he or she should act in said war. According to Wikipedia,